After raising three children and watching them graduate from college, Bob and Carol decided to leave the educational field and pursue a dream that had been put on hold for 35 years (since graduationg from the University of Northern Iowa). "Two in Thailand" is the journal dedicated to that dream - to serve in the Peace Corps. This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed within do not necessarily represent the views of the Peace Corps or the United States Government.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Long-Neck Hill Tribe Village

We travelled for one and a half hours north of Chiang Mai to view the hill tribes. stopping at four distinctly different villages. The last 30 minutes of the drive was over a dirt road that wound its way through a valley rimmed by steep peaks. The hill tribes or "chao khao" (mountain people) are of semi-nomadic origin, migrating to northern Thailand from China, Myanmar, Laos, and Tibet. Each tribe has its own language, customs, mode of dress, and spiritual beliefs. The "long-necks" are refugees from Myanmar (formerly Burma) and like the other hill tribes have no ownership of the land. The hill tribes have the lowest standards of living in Thailand, which can be partly attributed to their lack of Thai citizenship. During the past decade, free education has been offered to them by the Thai government. The irony is that this may threaten their cultural identity through their assimilation into society.

These pictures show the village of approximately 50 people. The second picture shows a common area for washing clothes and dishes.